Newsletter: Today: The voter who goes to every candidate’s rallies

One New Hampshire voter is trying to see every 2020 presidential candidate in person. It’s a long list, and it makes for some busy weekends.

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The Voter Who Goes to Every Candidate’s Rallies

New Hampshire voter Cheri Schmitt intends to see every 2020 candidate in person — even if there are more of them than there are kids in her elementary-school classes. But she’s committed to the task, keeping names on a dry-erase board on her fridge; she sees her job as helping them become more perfect versions of themselves. So she went to a bookstore to see Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (she left a good impression), a house party for Sen. Michael Bennet (he spoke too fast for her to take notes), a bar for Andrew Yang (“absolutely not”), a gym for Sen. Cory Booker (Schmitt thanked his mom “for sharing her son with us”) and an arena for President Trump (“disturbing”).

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More Politics

— As Trump heads to the G-7 summit, every one of the other leaders who will be there is facing political or economic turmoil at home — and he’s only adding to the chaos.

— In fire-ravaged Paradise, Sen. Bernie Sanders became the latest Democratic presidential candidate to advance a climate change agenda that would have a far-reaching impact on the day-to-day lives of all Americans. His is the costliest by far.

— His is just the latest of a growing list of so-called Green New Deals, joining those of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Mayor Eric Garcetti. Here’s how they all compare.

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— A week after dropping out of the Democratic presidential primary race, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper said Thursday he will run for Senate to challenge Republican incumbent Cory Gardner.

L.A. Could Crack Down on Where the Homeless Can Sleep

Los Angeles politicians are weighing new rules that could bar people from sitting or sleeping on streets and sidewalks near schools, parks, day cares and other areas, an idea that’s drawn fire from homeless advocates. The restrictions would replace a blanket ban on sidewalk sleeping that has been on the books for decades but which the city had agreed not to enforce at night after being sued by skid row residents. Advocates argue it’s cruel and useless to punish people with nowhere else to sleep.

Orange County’s ‘Snitch Scandal’ Widens

A court filing made public Thursday has raised new questions about the way Orange County law enforcement leaders reviewed allegations of deputy misconduct during the jailhouse informant scandal, opening the door for challenges to a number of criminal cases filed in the last three years. It’s yet more fallout from a so-called snitch scandal that centered on allegations that deputies in a special handling unit housed jailhouse informants near high-profile defendants to obtain confessions without their lawyers present, violating their rights.

What Makes a Person Pardonable?

Liyah Birru shot and injured her husband after what she says was months of physical abuse. Now she is being processed for deportation to her home country of Ethiopia — unless, that is, Gov. Gavin Newsom pardons her. He’s been giving heightened consideration to pardon requests from people targeted for deportation. But her case promises to test the traditional bounds of executive clemency in California.

In the photograph below, taken on this day in 1954 at L.A.'s Central Police Station, Los Angeles Mirror photographer George Lacks could only fake his frustration with the man on the right — yes, there’s a man hiding under that blanket — for refusing to have his picture taken. (He was a narcotics suspect, after all.) L.A. Times staff photographer Don Cormier did, however, get a picture of the pair’s impasse. The image wasn’t published in The Times at the time but did appear a few months later in Among Ourselves, a publication for employees of the Times-Mirror Co. The Mirror, an afternoon paper, was closed in 1962.

Aug. 23, 1954: Los Angeles Mirror photographer George Lacks portrays frustration after a narcotics suspect huddled under a blanket refused to come out and have his picture taken at the Central Police Station. Los Angeles Times photographer Don Cormier did get this photo.

(Don Cormier / Los Angeles Times)

CALIFORNIA

— Legislation to require that all high school students take an ethnic studies course is being shelved for at least a year amid curriculum concerns from pro-Israel groups and others.

— A Cal State Fullerton employee has been arrested in the fatal stabbing of a retired university administrator in his car in a campus lot, authorities said Thursday. Police didn’t disclose the relationship between the two but said the victim had been targeted.

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— Four people were wounded in a shooting in downtown L.A. on Thursday, in a park a block from the LAPD’s Central Division station. Authorities said it appeared to have begun with an altercation between two people in an SUV and someone in the park, and that only one victim was targeted.

— A jury on Thursday found Michael Gargiulo sane at the time of his three knife attacks in the L.A. area, paving the way for prosecutors to pursue the death penalty.

— Part of a new wave of genre-bending black artists that includes Solange and Blood Orange, Kelsey Lu — who released her debut album this year — says her whimsical, cello-inflected folk-soul sound “requires a sense of openness and patience.”

NATION-WORLD

— There’s a new struggle over identity in Hong Kong, beyond the protests. The city has long shunned ethnic minorities, but some residents, especially the young, are embracing minorities and refugees as part of the enclave’s non-Chinese identity.

— Is Trump counting on consumers to stave off a recession? Even though their spending has been supported by a tight labor market, rising incomes and relatively low debts, the recent upheaval in financial markets and some key indicators flashing red have begun to weigh on consumers’ moods.

— The Warped Wall. The Salmon Ladder. The Jumping Spider. That’s just some of what the gymnasts, runners and climbers on “American Ninja Warrior” must conquer. The NBC reality competition has fostered a subculture of athletes eager to test themselves against quirky, daunting obstacles.

— A California appeals court has ruled that abortion must be covered by health insurance plans sold in the state. It’s important that the ruling upholds state law that is very much at odds with the winds of change in reproductive health rights in much of the country, columnist Michael Hiltzik writes.

— The ballooning federal budget deficit isn’t just a national economic challenge. It also poses a political quandary for Democrats, the L.A. Times editorial board writes.

— How best to treat meth addiction? Some researchers are convinced it’s contingency management — essentially giving patients prizes for staying sober. It works, patients like it and it’s cheap, they say. But because it’s not traditional, it’s harder to pay for than talk therapy or medication. (Seattle Times)

Taix French Restaurant, an L.A. institution for nearly a century, has been sold to a real estate developer that plans to turn its Sunset Boulevard site into a housing and retail complex. Among its future establishments? A smaller version of Taix. Says its owner: “There are banquet rooms that don’t get used like they used to.”

Taix’s history dates to 1882, when Marius Taix moved from the Hautes Alpes to open a bakery in L.A.'s French enclave downtown. The family opened a hotel there in the early 20th century but only opened its restaurant after a Prohibition-era altercation with a boozy tenant. It was a hit, and it relocated to Sunset in 1964. It became a local favorite for weddings and family get-togethers and a popular watering hole before and after Dodgers games.